The tourism sector is passing through the worst phase in recent times. After its collapse in 2020 due to the global spread of coronavirus, the sector is yet to recover and gasping for survival.
Its road to recovery goes through mass vaccination, which the industry expects to happen soon globally and locally. They are looking for some global policy that allows travel to vaccinated people under standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure the safety of the passengers and destination.
Commenting on Oman’s scenario, Carlota Alvaro, Assistant Director of Sales at Orascom Hotels in Oman, said, “Tourism in Oman is limited now to the local market. The pandemic has affected the tourism industry badly. Lots of employees have lost their jobs, and the government tried its best to help the collapsing industry by providing support to boost local tourism.”
“Apart from tourism, many other sectors are depending on vaccination to survive. Our main market is the overseas market. One of the requirements to enter from one county to another is going to be vaccination. Since Oman is committed to going for vaccination pro-actively, we are hopeful for the sector’s road to recovery,” she said.
She is hopeful of a slow but steady recovery of the tourism business by October this year.
Other tourism stakeholders also endorsed the possibility of the sector's recovery on the domestic level first and then on the inbound level.
Manuel Levonian, General Manager of Crowne Plaza Salalah Resort, called for high safety and hygiene standards to assure the tourists and the governments to open the sector.
“It all depends on how your hotel is ready to bring back the guests. Vaccination surely has a major role to play when it comes to slow opening of the sector,” he said.
He appreciated Omran’s move to promote local tourism through campaigns titled ‘Within Oman’ that evoked a very good response from domestic tourists.
The campaign was launched last year. According to him, the campaign gave a boost to domestic tourism. “The domestic travellers got special packages and experiences at the Group’s diverse hospitality assets across the country. The hotels ranged from three stars to five stars with many exciting offers and discounts.”
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is also looking for ways to boost the tourism sector in cooperation with the governments and authorities.
A local travel operator appreciated the IATA’s move to “share information among industry and governments to inform policies and decisions to ensure safe mobility.”
Vaccination, according to him, will boost general confidence that will finally reflect on the tourism sector.
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